Samuel Adams

“ Yet he never lost sight of the fact that it was he who had seconded the motion when made in Congress by Samuel Adams to appoint Washington commander-in-chief of the armies of the Revolution, or that it was he who suggested it to Samuel Adams, and that he sustained the motion in a speech of burning eloquence. He felt that this conferred an obligation and that Washington was at times unmindful of this. He was more exacting than generous, and more suspicious than confiding. In truth, Adams had more mind than soul; more ambition than patriotism, and more impulse than discretion. ”

“ With all these movements Samuel Adams was in sympathy. He went even further, for at this time he was almost or quite alone in his desire for independence, and he has well been called the “Father of the Revolution.” Perhaps we think of him especially in connection with the Boston Tea Party, but his influence for the good of his country lasted far beyond that time.
Till the close of his life he was an earnest and sincere patriot. He died in 1803, at the age of eighty-one years. Not an orator like Patrick Henry, but a man of action like Washington, he had great power in dealing with men. ”

“ There, too, is the name of that other proscribed patriot, Samuel Adams, a man who hungered and thirsted for the independence of his country, who thought the declaration halted and lingered, being himself not only ready, but eager, for it, long before it was proposed: a man of the deepest sagacity, the clearest foresight, and the profoundest judgment in men. ”

“ The elder Samuel Adams was a man of wealth and influence. He owned a large estate on Purchase street, with a noble mansion fronting on the harbor, and here the younger Samuel Adams was born. The father was always a leader. He was justice of the peace, deacon of the old South church, selectman, and member of the legislature, where he made himself prominent in the quarrels with Gov. ”

“ In Boston and its vicinity, Samuel Adams was not highly regarded, and outside of Boston, at forty years of age, he was positively unknown. The neighbors regarded him as a harmless fanatic, sane on most subjects, but possessed of a buzzing bee in his bonnet to the effect that the Colonies should be separated from their protector, England. Samuel Adams neglected his business and kept up a fusillade of articles in the newspapers, on various political subjects, and men who do this are regarded everywhere as "queer." A professional newspaper-writer never takes his calling seriously—it is business. ”

“ If Samuel Adams at the age of forty-two was known for a man who could not successfully manage his own affairs, he was also known, and very well known, for a man with a singular talent for managing the affairs of the community ”

“ The brave and liberty-loving Samuel Adams was the leading man of Boston at that time. He was a man in middle life just forty-two years of age, of cultivated mind and stainless reputation, a powerful speaker and writer, and a man in whose sagacity and moderation all men trusted. ”

“ To accept so much and still preserve one’s self-respect would be impossible to ordinary men under ordinary circumstances. Fate had so ordered the affairs of Samuel Adams that integrity of character required him to be an extraordinary man acting under extraordinary circumstances.
The character of his mind, as well as the outward circumstances of his life, predisposed Samuel Adams to think that a great crisis in the history of America and of the world confronted the men of Boston. ”

“ We may be altogether sure that no genuine development of literary taste among the American people in any period of our future history can result in serious misfortune to this particular specimen of American literature.
Samuel Adams.—Samuel Adams was a man of letters, but he was so only because he was above all things a man of affairs. Of literary art, in certain forms, he was no mean master; of literary art for art’s sake, he was entirely regardless. He was perhaps the most voluminous political writer of his time in America, and the most influential political writer of his time in New England ”

“ I see Samuel Adams, impoverished, living upon a pittance, hardly able to provide a decent coat for his back, rejecting with scorn the offer of a profitable office, wealth, a title even, to win him from his allegiance to the cause of America. I see Robert Morris, the wealthy merchant, opening his purse and pledging his credit to support the Revolution, and later devoting all his fortune and his energy to restore and establish the financial honor of the Republic, with the memorable words, "The United States may command all that I have, except my integrity." ”

“ Samuel Adams was elected to a vacancy in the Assembly Sept. 27, 1765, and the day he was sworn in, Bernard, the royalist governor, prorogued the legislature. In October, 1765, he began his service in behalf of revolution as the only remedy, for oppression, and advocated it in the colonial assembly continuously until 1774, when he was sent as a representative to the Colonial Congress at Philadelphia, and there continued the agitation. Great Britain felt the force of the man who was opposing her, and stood ready to forgive all in rebellion but Samuel Adams and John Hancock. ”

“ When Thomas Adams died he owed one Henry Mountford, or Mountfort, of Boston, and on his petition a writ was issued March 13, 1689-99, against the estate of Captain Samuel Adams, who had been administrator of his son Thomas, to recover. In the suit, “Mrs. Mary Smith” deposed as to what she knew about the debt, mentioning her “father-in-law, Captain Samuel Adams of Chelmsford,” and giving her own age as “twenty-three.” This age fits the daughter of Henry Blackmore. ”

“ If Massachusetts was the leader in the events before the Revolution, and she unquestionably was, Samuel Adams was the leader in Massachusetts, and the organ through which he swayed the people was the Boston Gazette. There is not an American schoolboy who is not familiar with the names of Samuel Adams, "Father of the Revolution "and of John Adams, "Statesman of the Revolution," but probably very few people are fully aware of the great extent to which these two used, and how much they relied on, that very important pre-Revolutionary newspaper. ”

“ Samuel Adams and his cousin John were delegates to the first continental congress. They knew that Massachusetts was somewhat dreaded and distrusted by the other colonies, especially by Pennsylvania and New York, on account of her forwardness in opposing the British government. While there was genuine sympathy with her situation, there was at the same time great reluctance to bringing on a war. The rigid puritanism of Massachusetts was also held in disrepute. Samuel Adams felt it necessary to be conciliatory, and it was easy for him to be so, for he was large-minded and full of tact. ”

“ Bowdoin, Cushing, Hancock, Otis, and even John Adams could not have been thoroughly trusted in the last years of the colony to bring affairs to a successful issue. But Samuel Adams was fitted by intellect and character, adroitness and courage, tireless energy and by never failing devotion to the public good, to be the man for the time. ”

“ Just as brave and liberty-loving were the Massachusetts people, with Samuel Adams as their leader.
He was born in Boston in 1722. His father was a well-to-do man, who filled a large place in the community. Of Samuel Adams's boyhood we know little, but as far as we can learn he was a studious, in-door sort of lad, with little fondness for sport of any kind. His father wished him to be a clergyman, but he preferred to study law. ”

“ Adams was married to Elizabeth Wells. In Boston the news of the passage of the stamp act by the British parliament called out determined resistance. Hutchinson's house was destroyed and his family barely escaped the infuriated mob. The general assembly was to convene in September, and Samuel Adams again prepared the instructions for the Boston members. ”

“ It was, however, as a manager of men that Samuel Adams was greatest. Such a master of the methods by which a town-meeting may be swayed, the world has never seen. On the best of terms with the people, the shipyard men, the distillers, the sailors, as well as the merchants and ministers, he knew precisely what springs to touch. ”

“ For many years the grave was unmarked, and the disk that now denotes it was only recently placed in position by the Sons of the American Revolution. But the place of Samuel Adams on the pages of history is secure. Upon the times in which he lived he exercised a profound influence. And he who influences the times in which he lives has influenced all the times that come after; he has left his impress on eternity.
JOHN HANCOCK
Boston, Sept. ”

“ His cousin, Samuel Adams, was a popular and fearless leader in the movement for Independence. His activities were so feared by England, that the Government issued orders for his arrest and trial for high treason.
Abigail Adams, John Adams’s wife, was one of the noble American women who helped to win the War for Independence. She kept her husband informed of the movements of the British around Boston, while he was attending the Continental Congress. She wrote him many patriotic letters, which are inspiring reading to-day. ”

“ Samuel Adams was then—it was the year of the Sugar Act—forty-two years old; that is to say, at the age when a man’s hair begins to turn gray, when his character is fixed, when his powers, such as they are, are fully matured; well known as a “poor provider,” an improvident man who had lost a fair estate, had failed in business, and was barely able, and sometimes not able, to support his small family. These mundane matters concerned Samuel Adams but little. To John Adams he said on one occasion that “he never looked forward in life ”

“ It is only as a patriot that Samuel Adams claims our attention. Although college bred he was a man of letters only so far as his pen could write patriotic resolutions and scathing letters against the government of King George. These letters were printed for the most part in the "Boston Gazette," published by Edes & Gill in Court Street. ”

“ It was said in 1775 that while Samuel Adams represented the force and virtue of New England life, John Adams was the best product of its cultivated side; and it would seem as if old Samuel Hoar, the founder of his line, were a mean between the two. Fortunate is such a father if he has a son who inherits his talents and virtues as well as his property; and fortunate is the son whose father knows from his own experience what is best to do for him. ”

“ One reason, perhaps, why Adams was not so conciliatory as Jefferson was inclined to be toward England was that he had gone too far to be pardoned. He was the most outspoken and violent of all the early leaders of rebellion except his cousin, Samuel Adams. He was detested by royal governors and the English government. But his ardent temperament and his profound convictions furnish a better reason for his course. All the popular leaders were of course alive to the probable personal consequences if their cause should not succeed ”

“ On this question, Samuel Adams and Young1 addressed the meeting, which was become far the most numerous ever held in Boston, embracing seven thousand men. There was among them a patriot of fervent feeling; passionately devoted to the liberty of his country; still young, his eye bright, his cheek glowing with hectic fever. He knew that his strength was ebbing. The work of vindicating American freedom must be done soon, or he will be no party to the great achievement. He rises, but it is to restrain ”

“ It is not until we have such modern and broad-minded historians as Rhodes, McMaster and Roosevelt that we begin to get a proper appreciation of the part played by journalism, even in the primitive sections.
Samuel Adams was born in Boston in 1722, and graduated from Harvard in 1740. An undergraduate essay was on "Liberty," showing the drift of his mind; and, from the time when it became evident to him that there could not be happiness in the colonies until England had receded from her position, he never neglected an opportunity to stir the colonists in every way possible. ”

“ The principles of rational liberty were enforced upon the minds of each rising generation, and when tyranny reared its hydra head, they readily recognised the monster, and resolved, nobly resolved, to drive from their shores the invading foe.
Among the revolutionary sages who boldly espoused the cause of71 equal rights, was Samuel Adams, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 22nd of September, 1722. He was a man of middle size, well formed, with a countenance beaming with intelligence, indicating firmness of purpose and energy of action. ”

“ We will take a man, who is no partisan of England or France, one who wishes to do justice to both, and to all nations, but is the partisan only of his own." "Have you seen," said he, "a certain letter written to the Count de Vergennes, wherein Mr Samuel Adams is treated pretty freely?" "Yes," said I, "and several other papers, in which Mr John Adams has been treated so too. I do not know what you may have heard in England of Mr Samuel Adams. You may have been taught to believe, for what I know, that he eats little children. ”

“ I think that after mature investigation, he will be convinced, that Mr. Henry did not "give the first impulse to the ball of independence," and that Otis, Thatcher, Samuel Adams, Mayhew, Hancock, Cushing, and thousands of others, were labouring for several years at the wheel, before the name of Henry was heard beyond the limits of Virginia.
If you print this, I will endeavour to send you something concerning Samuel Adams, who was destined to a longer career, and to act a more conspicuous, and perhaps a more important part than any other man. But his life would require a volume. ”